Bengal developing 12 mega projects to draw more tourists

Kolkata, June 26 (IANS) West Bengal, which drew 12 lakh foreign visitors in 2013, is now developing 12 mega tourism projects and upgrading infrastructure to attract more tourists from different parts of India and abroad, the state assembly was told Thursday.

Tourism Minister Bratya Basu said the government was laying top priority on upgrading tourism infrastructure by improving facilities like roads, water supply and power and constructing new tourist lodges and renovating the existing ones.

Replying to questions from lawmakers, Basu said the government was keen on promoting the state's tourism sector through aggressive marketing, and hoped that the number of tourists would increase substantially once the infrastructure plans were implemented.

Among the mega tourism projects the government have taken up are the ones at Gajoldoba and Buxa-Jayanti circuits in the Dooars forest area of Jalpaiguri district, Jharkhali island in the Sundarbans forest of South 24 Parganas district and the Jungal Mahal circuit in the western districts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia.

The government was also renovating the Sagarika tourist lodge in Diamond Harbour and Gangasagar tourist lodge in Gangasagar of South 24 Parganas district, besides improving infrastructure in Gangasagar.

The minister said the state now had 39 tourst lodges - 27 run by the government, and the rest leased to private parties.

As part of developing Henry island in South 24 Parganas district, the government was working on a detailed project report which was in the final stage of preparation.